it is a major step in healing relationships…

another practical way to practice being humble is to practice admitting when i’m wrong.

this comes a little easier for some than it does for others. the truth of it is, all of us make mistakes. and we do so with great regularity. i have found that we even say we’re wrong to a degree. it’s easy to say, “i was wrong,” if i only have to own that for a minute and then go back into attack mode. i can throw it back in another direction. “i was wrong. but you…” or “i’m really sorry, but if only you had…” or we start this excuse making, because of this or because of that. it’s all of this sugar coating. when in fact what we need is brutal, humble honesty. “i own it. i was wrong. i’m sorry.” it’s so difficult for us these days to really just come out with the hard news of what’s going on in our life – the truth about who we really are.

i heard a story of a woman who was traveling on business away from her husband and kids and left him home to hold down the fort for her children. she called back one night to see how things were going, and he said, “not so good. the poodle died today.” she said, “that’s bad news, but what’s worse is the way you delivered that news to me. you could have kind of eased me into it, kind of built me up to that news, let me get ready for it. like the first night i call home, you could have said, ‘honey, somehow the poodle got up on the roof.’ then the next night i called you could have said, ‘the poodle fell off the roof and isn’t doing so well.’ then the third night you could have said, ‘the poodle died.’ then i would have been ready for the bad news.” he said, “i’ll try to do better next time.” she says, “well, let’s just change the subject. you’re home with the kids, watching over the house, i know that my mom came down for a visit. i know that you don’t like her very much. how’s that going? how’s mom doing?” he said, “she’s on the roof.”

we try to sugarcoat the bad news, but honesty and humility go a long way.

the bible talks about this. proverbs 28.13 (lb) says, a man who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful, but if he confesses and forsakes them he gets another chance.

i don’t know your background. some of us might have grown up in homes where we didn’t hear people say, “i’m sorry.” no one ever admitted, “i’m wrong.” so now we’re imitating that behavior and we find it a challenge to ever come clean in the workplace or in the classroom or in the home and say, “i was wrong.” somehow we believe if people come to know that we’re less than perfect, our esteem in their eyes will diminish. guess what? they already know you’re not perfect.

the first step in healing relationships will always begin with humility. james 5.16 (msg) says, make this your common practice. again practice. it’s a very profound concept that we are talking about. the fact that we can choose to be humble and we can practice it and become good at it. make this your common practice. confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so you can live together whole and healed.

just a thought from the front porch…